


you are not inside memories

by Anonymous



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mild Language, Pre-Relationship, Romance, pelnyx
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 00:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11279523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: In which: a marriage proposal that seems out of the blue and not very romantic.(But it is and it isn't.)Nyx/Pelna.  One-shot. AU.





	you are not inside memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nicrt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicrt/gifts).



> For the dialogue prompt taken from [this list](https://ghostl0rd.tumblr.com/post/162151143785/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-number-and-ill-write-you) : #28 "Marry me."

They’d been friends long enough to know that Thinking Things Through was as much Pelna’s thing as Doing the Complete Opposite or Not Enough Of was Nyx’s, that Nyx couldn’t be blamed for wondering if they’d somehow swapped bodies on the way home.

Technically it was Pelna’s home, but thanks to a string of bad luck and financial woes resulting in Nyx’s premature eviction from his previous address, he was now Pelna’s roommate/tenant and presently very very confused.  Friday nights were traditionally reserved for trash-talking each other over Mario Kart while whingeing about life and Drautos’ draconian management style (but mostly about Drautos) and Nyx had been well on the way to actually winning for once, when he’d been Blue-Shelled’–both figuratively and literally.  

He barely registered the punch to his shoulder as Pelna celebrated yet another victory, chugging his beer and setting it back onto its coaster.  Try as he might, Nyx couldn’t will his body into auto-pilot, still replaying the last five seconds over and over in his head.  Amazing, what two innocuous words on their own could accomplish when uttered together in a specific order.  

By a specific person.  

“Yusss! Come on dude, best eleven out of ten; give you a chance to win your dignity back,” Pelna chuckled, leaning slightly forward in his seat.  

The countdown began without any further preamble:

**_3…_ **

**_2…_ **

**_1…_ **

Five seconds after **_GO!_** flashed on screen, Nyx’s avatar remained stationary.  Pelna noticed and hit _Pause_.  He looked over Nyx for a moment, deliberating, and then smiled.

“Not like you to _look before you leap_ , Ulric.”  

They only addressed each other by last name when they wanted to be condescending, but it was more the teasing tone of voice than the words that spurred Nyx back into action; the conflicting emotions of joy and confusion and frustration creating a sort of frown-smile on his face.

“Not like you to say things _you don’t mean.  Khara_.”  

Pelna reclined back into the couch with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head and over the backrest, not the least bit bothered.

“I get it.” He said, still very much amused.  “You think I didn’t mean it.”

“Of course you didn’t!” Nyx scoffed. “Marriage isn’t something you just decide to get like it’s your morning coffee.  It affects real lives, _changes_ real lives.  It’s a decision you _slowly_ come to, that you think about.  Not something you blurt in the middle of a conversation.”

“Weren’t you the one just complaining about how rigged the economic system is against us millennials?”

“And your bright idea was _marriage_?”

“Course it was,” Pelna said.  When Nyx continued to stare, he rolled his eyes. “Tax benefits, _duh_.”

“ _Tax benefits?”_ Nyx repeated. On one hand he wanted to laugh, because the two of them were as money conscious as a bunch of beefy board members at an AGM. On the other hand, _how dare he_.  He might not have been a romantic, but one would think they’d be desirable for non-materialistic reasons.

He picked up his controller off the floor and scowled at the screen, continuing the race.  Pelna went along with it, but with the unspoken understanding that the conversation was far from over. The silence lasted the entirety of the race, stealing Nyx’s concentration for the better part of ten minutes right up until—

_“Did you fucking just Blue-Shell me?”_

“I _also_ fucking won,” Pelna snickered.  

The next race started up again and ended in much the same way.  The next five after that for that matter and each time the smile—correction: _smirk_ on Pelna’s face just grew and grew until Nyx tossed his controller again in frustration, channeling the rage of just about every living being on the planet who’d been denied victory just seconds from their grasp.

Pelna touched his shoulder.  “Hey,” he said, tone gentle. “What’s got you so worked up?”

“This. The casual marriage, thing.” Nyx gestured at the whole of him, because it wasn’t _like him_ , and he wanted to understand, but try as he might, over twenty years of friendship still wasn’t enough to get his head around it and that frankly pissed him off. “Are you sick?”

Pelna gave him a ‘look’.

“It’s a valid question, Pel.”

Pelna snorted.  “I’m healthier than _you_ , if that’s what you’re asking.”  

Not that it was a particular challenge to be—anyone who remembered to eat, was healthier than Nyx.

“Quarter life crisis then,” Nyx said.

“You think a _quarter life crisis_ is why I’m asking you to marry me.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Pelna said, but more out of exasperation than malice.  He reached for his beer again, but Nyx snatched it up. “Hey—”

“ _Marriage_ , Pelna.”

“Yeah. What of it?”

“What of it?  What do you mean: _‘what of it’_?” He brandished the bottle angrily at Pelna (not an easy thing to do, considering he was trying not to spill anything on the carpet, but Nyx managed).  “Quit acting so fucking relaxed! It’s _marriage_!”

The light finally dawned.  Pelna slapped himself in the forehead with a laugh. 

“Ohh… _now_ I get it.   _You_ think _I’m_ not—”

“ _Thinking_!” Nyx finished. “Yeah, I don’t think that you are.”

“Well,” Pelna shrugged. “You’re _wrong_ , then. I _have_ been thinking about it.  I’ll admit, the tax breaks were a high selling point—” Nyx glared—“wait, hear me out: I did think about other things too.  I thought about all the things I would have to give up, and you know what I realized?  That I _wouldn’t_ have to give up anything at all if it was _you_.  And you know why?”

“I’m gonna regret asking, but yeah, tell me.” Nyx muttered, rolling his eyes and pretending that the butterflies in his stomach was the suspect tuna sandwich he'd had earlier on in the day.  

“Because I actually _don’t_ think that I could do better than my best friend.”

“…I… _huh_ …” Nyx said.  Or rather, _managed_ to.  “I…huh…wow…” Pelna reclaimed his beer and nudged him, winking.

“So, yeah. I did _think_ about it, just to answer your question.  Loads of times.”

Nyx rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the warmth there spread to his ears and cheeks. “Man.  Really?”  He was actually starting to picture it: waking up the next day married to his best friend—nothing had to change if they were. Come to think of it: nothing _would_ if they were.

In fact, they were married already if he really thought about it.  People at the office often speculated, but neither of them ever bothered to refute those claims.  Or were _bothered_ by those claims.  Before he realized it, he was grinning.    

“ _Loads_ , huh.”

Pelna grinned back.  “Maybe not loads, but _enough_ times that I realized I _didn’t_ have to think about it.  But that’s just me.”  He picked up Nyx’s controller and handed it back to him. “Anyway—”  

“Yes.” Nyx blurted. “Let’s do this shit.  Let’s get married.”

“Now _there’s_ the Nyx I know,” Pelna laughed, before proceeding to blue-shell him well until dawn the next morning.

**Author's Note:**

> my dissertation on [pelna khara and nyx ulric](https://ghostl0rd.tumblr.com/post/177652924690/pelna-khara-a-writers-cheat-sheet)


End file.
